Guns, Politics and Homesteading

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Gun grabbers are pushing their fascist tyranny in the Green Mountains. The Burlington City Council plans to vote on a charter change on Monday which, if approved by voters and the legislature, would ban semi-auto weapons and magazines holding more than 10 rounds in Burlington, and would allow the police to confiscate them. I sent the following message off to every member of that council:

If Burlington should pursue the proposed gun ban any further, I shall never
give your city another penny of business. I am not the only person with this
opinion by any stretch either.

The U.S. Supreme Court in D.C. v
Heller has declared any arm in common use at the present time is protected by
the Second Amendment. The arms this proposal would ban are among the most
popular firearms in this country. This gun ban is unenforceable and
unconstitutional. Anyone who votes for it is unworthy to hold any office in our
Republic. I suggest you instead try to ban hammers, as more people are killed
each year with hammers than by rifles of any kind (FBI statistics). Moreover,
following the advice of Henry David Thoreau who pointed out that disobedience is
the foundation of liberty, when driving up route 7, I shall continue to carry my
9mm pistol with its standard 12 round capacity magazines. I will not obey
fascist nonsense.

That's not all. Barre Mayor Lauzon is trying to get a gun show to restrict so-called "assault weapons" and he wants plainclothes police to stop sales outside of the shows between private sellers. I had the following interesting exchange with him:

To:

tlauzon@charter.net

You are. Ask Rutland how well it went when they tried to cause problems for
gunowners some years ago. They lost the lawsuit. More people are killed each
year by hammers and clubs than rifles. Go down to New Jersey if you hate freedom
so much.

Title 24: Municipal and County Government

Chapter 61: REGULATORY PROVISIONS; POLICE POWER OF
MUNICIPALITIES

§ 2295. Authority of
municipal and county governments to regulate firearms, ammunition,
hunting, fishing and
trapping

Except as otherwise
provided by law, no town, city or incorporated village, by ordinance, resolution
or other enactment, shall directly regulate hunting, fishing and trapping or the
possession, ownership, transportation, transfer, sale, purchase, carrying,
licensing or registration of traps, firearms, ammunition or components of
firearms or ammunition. This section shall not limit the powers conferred upon a
town, city or incorporated village under section 2291(8) of this title. The
provisions of this section shall supersede any inconsistent provisions of a
municipal charter. (Added 1987, No. 178 (Adj. Sess.), eff. May 9, 1988.)

Section 2291(8): (8) To regulate or
prohibit the use or discharge, but not possession of, firearms within the
municipality or specified portions thereof, provided that an ordinance adopted
under this subdivision shall be consistent with section 2295 of this title and
shall not prohibit, reduce, or limit discharge at any existing sport shooting
range, as that term is defined in 10 V.S.A. §
5227.

--- On Sat, 1/5/13, tlauzon@charter.net
wrote:

From:
tlauzon@charter.net

Subject: Re: so-called
assault weapons

To: "XXX>

Date:
Saturday, January 5, 2013, 8:09 AM

You're wrong.

From: XXX>

Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 15:30:54 -0800 (PST)

To:

Subject: so-called assault weapons

I have noted from a story on
WCAX that you have chosen to politicize a tragedy to push the anti-freedom
agenda of the gun grabbers. I sometimes go through Barre on my way to hunt and
fish. I can promise you I will never give anyplace in Barre another dime of my
money until you are thrown out of office by the voters of that city. I will also
remind you that contrary to your beliefs, you have zero authority to regulate,
restrict or in any other way discourage the sale or display of guns. Towns and
cities may merely prohibit the discharge of firearms by ordinance. You can
be certain your city will face lawsuits if you attempt to cause any trouble for
legal gun owners.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Monday and Tuesday, both days happily consumed by Nature. Yesterday was gray and wet but it did not dissuade me from going to the Tinker Brook Natural Area in Plymouth. This area is a small ravine dominated by a splendid brook that crashes over stones as it finds its way down the mountain. The rocky slopes around this brook contain some rare old growth trees, mainly red spruce and hemlock. Some of these trees are older than this state or country, and somehow survived the desolation inflicted upon Vermont in the years of development. These grand old trees are not the giant redwoods, etc., one finds in the West, but are nonetheless large and beautiful. They impress me with the power of Nature-for I am so small and short-lived in comparison to these trees. The ground here is carpeted with fine wildflowers: trilliums, bellworts, etc. Moose are abundant here, if their sign is any hint. The stormy weather has kept the mosquitoes at bay, but not the beautiful singing birds, all singing their thanks to their Creator, for to them this day is not bad but good.

Tuesday finds me at Birdseye again. The land is green and lush here, and the birds are singing loudly. The rain has let up and now and then the sun shines through the cloudy sky. The air is sweet with pine, courtesy of the young pine trees abundant here. The mosquitoes are out in full force seeking their life-giving blood, though they do not stop me.

Nature puts me at rest, granting peace- and yet I can't shake the pain of the human world from my heart. There is such tragedy unfolding. In Indiana, their supreme court has declared the right to resist LEO's acting unlawfully, dating back to the Magna Carta, extinct. Now there is no effective limit to the abuses of thugs, for even refusing consent to search, under this broadly written ruling, could be construed as resistance and unlawful.

In Arizona, a SWAT team in Tucson murdered a man in his own home. Sleeping after a graveyard shift, he was awoken by his wife, who saw men outside attempting to enter-without announcing themselves as police-and he grabbed a rifle to investigate. He was shot-over 70 rounds were fired by police-and then medical help was blocked for over an hour while he died, killing the most important witness. They initially lied that he had fired at them-he never even took the safety off his gun-and then admitted that was false. All of this in name of the War on Drugs, an attempt to control people that has failed as miserably as Prohibition did, and, no drugs were even found in his home. The great irony here is that this man was a veteran of Iraq, a soldier who inflicted this vile government's will on others, and was then killed by his own local government.

In Philadelphia, a man was open carrying a sidearm for protection, and was stopped by cops-who threatened to shoot him-claiming he was illegally carrying, to which the victim responded that it was legal as he had the required license. he was held, and blasted with expletive-filled verbal attacks by the cops before they released him when the supervisors eventually figured out the law. Now, after he posted a recording on the internet of the incident, they decided to charge him with disorderly conduct.

This country has become a police state. It is inevitable that every government will devolve into tyranny, for government by its nature is the creation of a means of controlling one group of people by another, and yet this is blatant enslavement of the people by the government.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

In the week I've had two "interesting" experiences while out hunting at two different Wildlife Management Areas (WMA's). In the first incident, when I parked I noted there was one other vehicle, as SUV plastered in animal rights and environmentalist bumper stickers (bad sign, huh?). Well, on the way up the trail up to where I'd seen coyotes before, I heard someone coming down ahead of me (couldn't see them with the trees and a bend in the trail). More importantly, I heard and then saw two big dogs coming at me aggressively. They weren't friendly, one was trying to bite me, but I kept him off me and chambered a round in my rifle. When the two hikers were in view they said "they just don't like guns, don't worry." Really? Did you train them to attack hunters or something? I kept my mouth shut because I was pretty ticked off. And I was one dog bite away from shooting their mutts.

Now, fast forward exactly one week. I'm out in another WMA, where I've seen signs of bobcats before (and yotes too for that matter). I perhaps should have turned around when I saw how many cars were parked there (primarily out of state plates I might add, mostly CT plates) including one with a trailer taking up 1/3 the parking area (I should add there are some VAST snowmobile trails out there so trailers for them aren't so odd there, but this fellow decided to park at such an angle as to take up way too much space). Now, I head out to an area without the snowmobiles around (the trails were off limits and gated). A good ways into the woods I bump into some crosscountry skiers. Two of them. Now, one, a guy, was friendly enough and asked what I was hunting. The woman with him, however, wasn't. She said you "shouldn't be shooting things out here. this is a ski trail." Really? This is a WMA, controlled by the Fish and Wildlife Department, for the primary purpose of protecting wildlife habitat and hunting access. It's not a "ski trail," it's a trail used by hunters rather frequently and ends, if you follow it far enough, at a beaver pond (at which I also did some trapping in the Fall).

I swear, the next Greenpeace activist with trained hunter attack dogs or the next person telling me not to hunt on lands paid for with my hunting license fees and ammo taxes I run into, I should just take a picture of them and report them to a game warden, for interference. There's getting to be way too many antis and other fruits and nuts in this part of the state.

I was going to comment the other day on the shooting in Tucson, but I think the following will suffice: the shooter disgusts me, but the left-wing lunatic politicians disgust me too and proved what slime they truly are. That political hack of a sheriff who had refused to press charges against the killer for death threats in the past tried to lay blame on the tea party, etc., Sanders used it to try to fundraise for campaigns, Obama filled the memorial service with his new campaign slogan (incl. T-shirts, and putting it on all the seats), the usual anti-gun crazies in Congress proposed yet another ban on full cap magazines, and the nuttiest of all things, one stupid Republican from NY proposed a bill banning carry of firearms within 1,000 feet of any elected official, and another proposed banning any symbols or speech that could be perceived as a threat to Congress. Some real statist trash came out of the woodwork this time. They always try to use a tragedy to push their agenda.

Friday, December 31, 2010

I have not fallen off the face of the Earth (yet). I simply haven't had the time or energy to keep blogging about all the insanity in our world for a while.

I'm not even sure where to begin on what Obama has been up to. Fortunately, the country ended Democrat control of the House, but the dems forced through many terrible things in the lame duck session (giving the FDA control over our food, etc.). Vermont not surprisingly continued to keep its collective heads in the sand wishing the spending fest can continue here. Shumlin got less than half the votes but with a dem controlled legislature, Dubie had no shot anyways. Now all the fruits and nuts in the state can push their idiotic agendas and bankrupt the state. Perhaps that will be good if the voters wake up in 2012, but it seems flatlander fools in Chittenden County control the state. Perhaps it's long past time to do what VT'ers failed to do in the 60's and 70's: chase the communist scum out of our state. A New Green Mountain Boys is what this state needs. Imagine loud day and night protests, etc., to drive the political scum out. Send them back to NY and MA and the other commie states.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Since then, Obama has got caught offering two people running in primary elections jobs to drop out. Perhaps he's going to pull a Nixon and do our country a big favor by getting impeached if he doesn't resign? Probably not until the dems lose some more seats in Congress.

Obama is also bungling the oil spill response in the Gulf of Mexico. This oil threatens important marshes, fisheries, and even the freshwater supply of Florida (it could potentially get into FL's aquifer, destroying the state). The feds were supposed to have plans and equipment in place for this sort of thing, but did not. After being heavily critical of Bush on Katrina, it seems Obama has decided to do worse.

Just last week my land in Alaska was threatened by a wildfire, as were many neighbors and their property. The "Applegate Fire" as it was named started because of a dry thunderstorm's lightning striking during dry conditions, got out of control and burned several thousand acres, breaching the Elliot Highway, burning some of Eureka, and putting the villages of Minto and Manley Hot Springs at risk. The government response initially was a bit lacking, to say the least. It only got raised in level and given attention by the feds before it was really fought by the authorities. Thankfully, the local residents of the area got together and made firebreaks with their own equipment and between that, the wind shifting and turning it in on itself, some rain, and finally some help by firefighters, it's relatively under control now, with just some spotfires. It could have been much worse but luckily, I'm not aware of any homes destroyed. It got within a mile and a half of the area my land and several others' land is at. This year's wildfires are unprecedented in recent times. Very early and lots of fires because of dry and hot weather. Spruce is just standing fuel ready to be ignited in dry conditions.

My garden is mostly okay. The peas got eaten up but are recovering, seems most of my seed is coming up now, and I transplanted in some melons, tomatoes, peppers, etc. The cantaloupe looks unhappy but I'll see how it goes. I've noticed a woodchuck up there which will likely be a source of problems.

Friday, April 9, 2010

I took a long walk the other day, middle of the day, during the worst traffic here. I don't normally do so but I had several things to do around town. Well, it reminded me of why I always avoided that before: I couldn't breathe! Nothing but car fumes gagging me, then I got light headed after breathing in constant diesel fumes for a mile (what was with all the trucks?). It's amazing how for such a small place, this town has all the traffic congestion and pollution problems you'd expect in a big city in NY.

Note to self: walk at night again, or walk in the woods instead, unless forced to spend time in the city during the day. Of importance also I noted some real (somewhat threatening) characters roaming the streets, none of them locals. We're definately attracting the wrong sorts from certain cities out of state. I suspect everyone locally knows the same thing.

Now, other things: my seeds are lazy this year. Absolutely lazy in growing. They're coming up but very, very slowly. Seems to me more should be up already. Well, whatever, I have a couple months before they need to go in the ground anyways. The trees outside are not being lazy but it may hurt them. This warm weather has gotten the trees coming back to life too early, so when we get a hard freeze like we should still get, it will be bad. I predict some bad crops of nuts and fruit this year, and a die off for the wildlife. I hope I'm wrong, but if not, you heard it here first.

I've been attempting to get some work (because obviously trapping isn't exactly bringing in big profits these days), a good paying job, ideally to have enough to pay cash for some land within a year and the permit crap to build. This is easier said than done. I applied for a job as a park ranger and it closed yesterday, but still no word. I've heard it can take a few weeks for them to score the applications, and even then, I may well be beat by someone who gets a score of 110 from a veterans preference. The wait is killing me. If I got it I'd have enough cash by September for everything. There's other things out there but honestly, working part time retail work isn't going to cut it, and is more likely to drive me to insanity than to success. I need something where I'm out of the city and away from crowds. Too bad there aren't many logging opportunities here that I can find. That would work well for me. I once wanted to teach but I'm convinced now I'm absolutely not teacher material.

The socialists have really screwed up the economy here, and of course, seem intent on spreading it over the rest of the country too. The biggest problem with this state is for too long we've allowed a bunch of elitist, marxist (yes, I'll use the dirty Vermont F word) flatlanders from NY, MA, CT and NJ and ex-hippies run this state after they escaped the sewers they created at home. We've allowed them to usurp our state and run it into the ground. I saw where there's a group of welfare entitlement activists encouraging the state to raise taxes even more rather than cut what they think they're entitled to. I wish I had commented on it when it came out because I can't find it anymore, but the local paper had an article on a lifelong welfare recipient who's organized others to fight to stay on government handouts for life. Now it's one thing to need help when things get bad, but to have no drive to do anything but collect handouts all your life? That's disturbing. The whole entitlement attitude in it just about put me into shock. It's frightening that this is what our country is turning into. And in this state too, it's hard to believe what was once the most conservative, hard working state has turned into this. The socialists/progressives have poisoned multiple generations with laziness and a hatred for work, religion, liberty and success.

The scariest part is I could actually see a person like that winning votes in Brattleboro and Burlington (can we please split those cities off from this state?). These people want the government running our lives, they want to manipulate us through "planning" and social engineering, treating us as guinea pigs in a big experiment. We need to rid our government of these sorts. Will people wake up this November and quit voting for these idiots or will our state and country just slowly collapse?

Sunday, April 4, 2010

The legislature's committee rejected several ballot measures that overwhelmingly passed on town meeting day. They would have instituted term limits and limited taxpayers' money going to pensions, etc., of public employees. Essentially it boiled down to this: a bunch of elitist, arrogant, power-thirsty career politicians (such as Rep. Howard, Alderwoman Davis, etc.), don't want we the people to be able to stop them from maintaining their iron grip on our state. These scum need to be reminded who's in charge. We need to, statewide, institute term limits, I think, to get rid of career politicians. I'm half tempted to run for office in response but I find politicians so distasteful and am a bit out of my comfort zone in large crowds, so I will have to give it more thought.

Genealogy can be fun: I did quite a bit of research some time ago and traced my father's family back to the 9th century in England (actually to a Dane in England, the Danes controlled much of England at the time). Doing more research, particularly on the people related through all the marriages with people outside the family, etc., has turned up several interesting items: in two different ways I'm distantly related to Thomas Jefferson (my favorite founding father and president), I'm related to Robert E. Lee, one of the men who died at the Alamo and his brother (also related obviously) died at the Goliad massacre. One relative was one of the first settlers of the town of Craftsbury, Vermont, another lead an important raid on some Indian raiders on a town in the early Colonial days in New England and won, one of my ancestors was tried for witchcraft in CT and was found not guilty, nearly every adult male member of my family alive at the time fought in the American Revolution, I'm related to a colonial governor of Maryland, and the first members of my family came over in the 1630's, followed in the decades after by many more cousins. There's still more to research but the records are incomplete for the remainder so I suspect little more will turn up. My mother's side is far more difficult to research but I am related to one of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention from a New England state, another served with General Washington as an assistant/aid, one was closely involved with Paul Revere and other Sons of Liberty. My mother's family can likewise be traced to the 1630's in America, but I have not researched all the marriages, etc., to see other connections and possibly earlier dates.

I've been giving thought, due to things going on with myself and my family, the picture nationally, financial reasons, etc., that I may give up on going to Alaska, at least in the near future. Which puts me on the land hunt and the hunt for a job to pay for said land. I'm thinking I'd be best off in the Northeast Kingdom for land, though the climate is a bit worse for growing certain fruit trees and nut trees than central Vermont. I've been after some park ranger jobs but so far have not heard anything back.

If anyone is interested in some land (19.99 acres with no property taxes or building permits required, about 160 miles from Fairbanks by road) in Alaska I may be open to selling it for what I've got into it (with the combined payments and downpayment I've paid, looking at about $3,000 or thereabouts) as downpayment then I could transfer the contract with the state to the buyer (I've already got the state's contract assignment/transfer form in case I find a buyer) and the buyer would have some pretty low minimum payments for another 8 years or less. Might help towards the downpayment on some land down here, I figure when I do move up there, there will be more land available. If it doesn't sell, I'll simply have that 20 acres waiting up there unused.

By the way, I apologize to any readers for requiring comments to be approved before posting (and I know I don't check often enough), but I've been getting so many spam comments (which I'm quite certain extend from my post on the Sea Shepherd terrorists, they're known for this juvenile type activity and I started getting blasted immediately after that). I simply had to do something to put a stop to the spam.